Razaullah heroics deny England quickfire win in third Test against Pakistan

Debutant Razaullah launched a remarkable late salvo as Pakistan finally showed some fight on Friday to keep England waiting for a clean sweep in their three-Test series. The fast bowler came to the crease with the tourists on the brink of defeat in the third Test at Edgbaston but clubbed nine sixes in an astonishing innings of 81 off 63 balls. Fellow paceman Mohammad Abbas also joined the party as the pair took the score from 318-8 to 439-9, with England seemingly powerless to stop the carnage late on the third day. It means the teams will have to come back on Saturday, with the home home side needing to score 130 to wrap up a 3-0 win after dominating the series. Earlier, Shan Masood scored 95 and captain Babar Azam made 76 as much-changed Pakistan passed 200 for the first time in the series at the sixth attempt.

Pakistan, facing a first-innings deficit of 320, lost two wickets without scoring a single run on Thursday but opener Azan Awais and the experienced Shan took the score to 125. Their partnership was broken in Friday’s morning session when Azan was caught down the leg side by stand-in wicket-keeper Jordan Cox off the bowling of spinner Dan Lawrence for 59, bringing Babar to the crease. Shan was in sight of an eighth Test hundred when he fell to a sensational slip catch by Dan Lawrence off the bowling of Gus Atkinson. Babar, who missed the first Test with an injured hand, batted fluently but got a feather of a touch to a Josh Tongue delivery, with Cox taking the catch. Saud Shakeel (29) was next to go, caught by Emilio Gay at short leg while trying to fend off a Jofra Archer bouncer, while two more Cox catches accounted for Ghazi Ghori and Mohammad Imran. Fireworks But Pakistan were not finished as Abbas joined Razaullah at the crease for their show of evening…